Over the past two days, I watched some events at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham (if on TV). Partly due to the heat that hugely reduced my range of options. And partly in reminiscence of the 2024 Championships in Rome. Among the amazing feats, Jimmy Gressier’s lead on most of the 5,000m, if not particularly strategic with Jakob Ingebrigsten in his flow, and Gressier’s sprint in the 10,000m. And Nadia Battocletti winning again both 5,000m and 10,000m races, very tactically with a extraordinary burst on the last lap. And Aurélien Quinion finishing third on the marathon race walk, under 3h, so exhausted he turned back after the finish line. And Gianmarco Tamberi repeating his antics and gold medal in the high jump (reaching to his family rather the Italian President this time!). And the much more serene victory of Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the current World and Olympic champion in the high jump. Слава Україні!
Archive for Rome
Магучіх синій та золотий [B’ham European Athletics 2026]
Posted in pictures, Running with tags 10000m, Birmingham, Britain, Слава Україні, European Athletics Championships, French TV, high jump, marathon race walk, Rome, UK, Ukraine, Walsall on August 17, 2026 by xi'ana journal of the imperial centuries
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life, Wines with tags Black Plague, book reviews, butternut, Colosseo, COVID-19, cuisine, Daniel Defoe, fori romani, gumshoe, Italy, Japan, Journal of the Plague Year, metro station, mystery novel, pasta, pissaladière, pulled pork, restaurant, Roma, Rome, science fiction, Tokyo, tonnarelli, transhumanism, twist, whodunnit on February 9, 2026 by xi'an
Over my trip to Rome, I managed to finish Titanium Noir, a science-fiction novel by Nick Harkaway, about an old-school detective trying to solve a murder in a society where a happy fews can become Titans, enhanced humans (aka transhumans) with larger bodies and higher life expectancy, except when they get killed of course. This is a rather enjoyable book, even though the science-fiction part does not play so well, since almost everything sounds like it was the 50’s, the 1950’s! Even the dialogues, which are somewhat outdated (no one uses gumshoe anymore!). But apart from that, the detective work is enough of a page turner and the final twist not completely predictable. Enjoyable maybe not to the point of continuing the series, since the twist cannot happens twice! Also read the very short novella Human Resources by Adrian Tchaikovsky, hugely if shortly disappointing!
Cooked winter standards (at home) like butternut soup and pulled pork. And pissaladière. Had two meals made of tonnarelli pasta, while 25H in Rome, a square variant to the spaghetti. One before strolling to the Fori Romani to watch the most recent excavations. And to admire the new Colosseo-Fori Imperiali metro station (with reconstituted household wells! And exhibits of objects found at their bottom).
Unrelated, but I watched MIU 404, a rather silly police series set in Tokyo, whose main appeals resides in exposing some issues in the modern Japanese society, like stalking or the status of migrants. But don’t expect realistic resolutions of the crime(s) motivating each episode…
destinazione bellissima Roma
Posted in Kids, pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags fori romani, IASD Master programme, Italy, La Sapienza, Master program, Roma, Rome, seminar, Université Paris Dauphine on January 18, 2026 by xi'an
Avignon: papal palace [jatp]
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags 14th Century, antipopes, Avignon, Catholic Church, Clément V, Council of Constance, excommunication, French history, Holy Roman Empire, jatp, Knights Templar, Occitanie, Palais des Papes, papacy, Philippe Le Bel, popes, Provence, ramblings, Rome, South, weekend, Western Schism on May 10, 2025 by xi'an
Avignon: grand view [jatp]
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags 14th Century, Avignon, Île de la Barthelasse, Catholic Church, city walls, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French history, Holy Roman Empire, jatp, medieval architecture, Occitanie, Palais des Papes, papacy, Pont Saint-Bénézet, popes, Provence, Rhône, Rome, South, Unesco World Heritage List, weekend on May 9, 2025 by xi'an
